Anti inflammatory Archives - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Lemon Cookies – Healthy For the Holidays

Lemon cookies are one tasty way to brighten up your holiday and Christmas cookie baking fun. 🎄

At first, it may sound strange to bake in lemon during the holidays.

…Because when we think of Christmas cookies, we traditionally think of chocolate, pistachio, or spices for Christmas-y vibes… and not summery lemon-y ones.

…But actually lemon is a winter fruit as most citrus fruits are.

Tip: you can buy lemons in the grocery stores in the winter months and freeze them for year-round use. You can save money this way as lemons are abundant in winter and when their price falls.

And these two healthy-inspired lemon cookies warm up the holiday baking season and festivities…

How to make these lemon strawberry and lemon rosemary cookies are step-by-step below… ⬇️

…So now that we’ve established lemons 🍋 are great, tasty year-round ingredients, they’re also super healthy.

Lemons are loaded with Vitamin C and full of limonene that’s an antioxidant.

And not only body healthy, the sunny lemon yellow is going to put anyone in a good happy mood… while brightening up tastes.

…Just ask those in the Mediterranean regions where cooking lemon into the daily diet for longevity reasons is a happy way of life.

Healthy Lemon Cookies

And so… in search of making one happy, anti-inflammatory lemon cookie, I was inspired by using healthy oils (no butter) and more healthy, natural sugar sources that have vitamins.

…But that was waayyy before I started baking all of my own sweets including cookies (my favorite!) for consumption…

Actually, I used to play a game with myself in the cookie grocery store aisle where I would find the healthiest cookie in a package with the smallest amount of sugar for the tastiest effect.

That was how I defined high cookie value.

Those were the day before I discovered how easy it is to bake your own cookies (that’s faster than if you go to the store and back).

And if you’re trying to lower your sugar intake (that’s a good idea! 💡) but love cookies, tart lemon is a great ingredient dimension add to cookies so the focus isn’t on sugar.

…The sour taste buds are doing a front row Radio City Rockettes happy dance with the secondary sweet buds behind. 👯

Like in this celebrational plate of healthy cookies with a strawberry lemon drizzle dessert surprise (made of Greek yogurt and buffalo mozzarella) in the middle.

plate of homemade and baked cookies including lemon cookies. — Clockwise from left to right: lemon strawberry cookie, lemon almond thyme cookie, spiced cookie

Baking in healthy ingredients is anti-inflammatory for skin and gut heath.

And making a cookie without butter or white sugar of any kind — that’s also deliciously tasty, holds together, and is crunchy (wow, that’s a mouthful!) — similar to store-bought cookies, is a dream come true! 💕 ..

And these lemon cookies with strawberries 🍓 fit the bill. They’re zesty and sweet in every way…

…Maybe that’s where zest-for-life came from?

And you can make lemon cookies like these with mostly healthy ground almond flour where you can save money by chopping your own whole almonds with a machine.

Recipe below.👇

…Or you can make a thyme-rosemary lemon cookie that’s Mediterranean-diet-lemon-and-olive oil healthy.

Since you’re using oil instead of butter for this cookie, you don’t need to refrigerate or cool the dough before rolling out as an added bonus.

For the flour for those lemon cookies, use gluten-free flour like coconut or almond flour (again).

And for the sweetness, use a tablespoon of honey or maple syrup.

Those sweet ingredients also act as binders along with the olive oil. Honey is great for moisturizing in dry, winter months and maple syrup for cooling down in hot months. But either are great year-round!

You can measure the healthy EVOO, but it’s much more fun if you look at cookie making as a new adventure like the wonder you had as a kid. 💭

…In your wonder, you can take a cup of flour and make a mound. Then, make a small well in the middle (like you would if you were making pasta) and add a tablespoon of olive oil in the well and start combining… and see what happens.

You’ll probably see that you need more oil to hold the flour together.

Try another tablespoon of EVOO. Then add a tablespoon of honey (or maple syrup).

Then add lemon zest from one lemon, and you can also add your herbs like rosemary and thyme.

Keep combining and adding a little bit more of the ingredient amount you need, like more olive oil…

Cookies are super forgiving. 😋

When the cookie dough can hold together with crumbly bits falling off, that’s when you know you will have a good cookie crunch when fully baked.

Place a piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper on top of your dough, and roll out the dough (or flatten dough with the palm of your hand for imperfect cookies).

Then you can form your cookies into the shape you like by hand or cookie cutters.

Bake on 325°F on the higher baking shelf for about 12 minutes. I like to flip the cookies (from bottom to top) about 5 minutes before they’re done so they are baked more even as the bottoms get brown faster.

Lemon cookies also tend to burn quicker than darker color cookies like gingerbread cookies, another favorite for this ‘lil Miss Cookie Monster! 😋

Lemon Strawberry Cookie

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Ingredients

1/2 cup almonds (or use almond flour)
1 tbsp coconut oil, solid
1 tbsp maple syrup
pinch of salt
strawberry
1/4 cup bench flour

Instructions

Use a chopping processor machine to chop almonds to a fine almond flour or use store-bought almond flour. Combine with all ingredients except bench flour to make the cookie dough.
Add bench flour to your working surface and roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out shapes and add to a baking cookie sheet with a non-stick surface (Silpat or use baking spray).
Bake on 325°F for about 12 minutes or until sides are golden brown.

Spices – 10 Holiday Taste Ideas

Spices and herbs are my favorite accoutrement for cooked-in flavor… plus more for zhugh. Spices are usually an after thought though. 💭

It’s good to sniff your spices once in a while to see if they are still fresh and usable. You can test them with a popcorn tasting party.

…Anything tastings btw make me perk up 🤩 and are up-my-alley probably because I spent a decade de ma vie as an event menu and planner professional working with tasty dishes and party planner hosts.

…And hosting your home popcorn tasting, instead of just a shake of salt, you can add a spice blend. You can also add EVOO for some healthy points or keep your dry snack, dry without any fat (that’s good for weight loss missions or a Kapha imbalance).

A small dash of salt (that’s a pinch or a teaspoon) daily is healthy for most people. 🧂

…But most of us get enough salt from the foods we eat without needing to add more… unless you cook all your foods and then you know exactly how much of this-or-that you’ve added.

And for more truth, there’s a myth that sea salts are healthier. All salt has sodium at the core, and salt from the sea has about the same as table salt.

I like to have a mixture of coarse salt, Celtic and Himalayan sea salts, and table salt for different cooking and baking reasons.

Coarser salts make good zhugh like food bling. 💍 Its crunch is also baked salty-good in fall pizzas.

And like salt, spices can add flavor in and on foods.

Herbs are often better on (or at least visible), and brown spices better as invisible flavor. But some spice seeds are zhugh exceptional like coriander, saffron threads, and fiery crushed red pepper flakes. 🔥

Herbs come from the greener parts (stems and leaves) of the plants and spices come from the seeds, roots, bark, and flowers… so they’re often ground to pinhead size or a powder.

I’ll share my bits here as these are some of my favorite year-round and holiday cooking spices and herbs in their own anti-inflammatory league:

1.Saffron (bitter, sweet pungent):

Saffron is delicious on most seafood like a seafood paella or saffron shrimp egg white omelette.

The thin red strands are unique and tasty on ooey-gooey desserts or a glazed lemon coconut cookie. And not only does saffron lift flavor: did you know saffron is a mood lifter? …so if you have an imbalanced Kapha mood that’s part of seasonal winter months, this is an amazing addition.

It also believed to help with worried and anxious feelings that are obvious Vata signs.

2.Cayenne pepper (pungent):

If you add the heated cayenne spice in your salty dishes like mac-n-cheese, then you have a different tasting dish altogether. Fresh cayenne can be caliente hot so don’t let the muted color-appearance fool you.

Did you know cayenne is used in many Cajun dishes?

If you want to stick with a mild dish, you could use the safer mild paprika (found also in Creole dishes like gumbo).

Adding cayenne on top of avocado sprouted bread toast is a personal favorite snack that’s good so you don’t add too much hot spice as you can see the contrast in colors.

The initial burning sensation you get on your tongue is what makes the plant-based capsaicin compound anti-inflammatory.

3.Turmeric (smokey/astringent):

In case you’re wondering what does turmeric tastes like? …it gives any salty dish a smoky taste.

Tumeric is a super-anti-inflammatory curcumin spice that gets more healthy potent with black pepper.

It’s smoky and extremely dry to the mouth. The bright orange flaming color would never prepare you for that.

Consider adding turmeric spice to potatoes, fish, or eggs.

On popcorn, I like it with a ‘lil EVOO since turmeric is astringent (drying in the mouth) and popcorn is naturally dry. 🍿

This is a healthy way over adding salt and butter, and one you can do watching movies in your home comfort.

Tip: use a stainless steel bowl as turmeric leaves an orange stain like fiery-orange leaves. 🍂

4.Ginger (pungent):

Add fresh ginger root to your hot tea and water to aid digestion from your big meal and to start your day.

It’s exceptionally beneficial in the morning when you’re revving up your stomach engine for the day ahead with its gingerol anti-inflammatory effects.

An easier way to cut the irregular shaped root and remove the skin is to soak the ginger in water overnight, and then it’s softer so you can cut the skin off. 🫚

Dry ginger is a staple powdery spice ingredient for holiday gingerbread bakes… my fave way to bring in sweet spice blends.

5.Cumin (cool):

And on the other temperature extreme, cumin is one-of-a-kind. That says it all!

It’s one of the primary Ayurvedic spices. If you’re a competitive Pitta or have a Pitta imbalance where you’re feeling angry or irritated, you’ll naturally prefer this spice during those hotter mood seasons.

It’s a cooling spice that will cool down and help inflammation.

If you combine with paprika or cayenne heat, it’ll help balance the spice temperatures that’s good for when you feel hot on the outside and cool temps on the inside, or vice versa. …You know those days, when both a cold and warm shower feel good. 🚿

Cumin is deliciously found in many plant-based and Middle Eastern dishes like falafel or hummus. Or in Mediterranean dishes and salads with feta and red onions.

I added some to falafel waffles and a potato Greek yogurt dip (like a tzatziki without cucumbers) I made over this past weekend.

💡You can always test spice on a popcorn snack or rice first to see if you will like it!

6.Curry (sweet):

…Ok, there are 3 savory spices I used to detest when I was younger… and guess what they are?…They are all on this list! I disliked ginger, rosemary, and this spice… curry.

Today, I am a fan of all of these spices. Why? Because your tastes change and learning to pair tastes changes tastes.

Tastings as I mentioned was part of my job. And when I could taste the notes in the spice with a complementary food pairing, it became a different and newly enhanced experience.

Curry in a mustard potato salad is one example that changed my mind.

And then I learned about the anti-inflammatory effects. Since curry is a seasoning blend with turmeric and chili pepper already mentioned as healthy tastes, you can see why it’s a no-brainer add. 👍

Plus, the lemony coriander vibe in the curry blend is like the cherry on top. 🍋🍒

7.Rosemary (astringent)

Rosemary is a unique herb. Add to cooked eggs and you’ll have a nice hiking, woodsy, and evergreen pine-like experience in your mouth.🌲

Add to roasted potatoes and root veggies and it’s a total flavor winner.

Rosemary is also one of the most anti-inflammatory herbs and is part of the mint family.

Mint is one of my favorite teas and herbs, so you can see why this one became a favorable one even though it took time to grow on me 😉.

And that’s one lesson that can help you to grow: Never give up on healthy foods you didn’t like before!

8.Oregano (astringent):

Oregano can come as a close second to rosemary if you’re deciding on healthiest. But why choose between the two when you can have both?

Add both herbs to a holiday turkey for the more traditional tastes where you can’t go wrong.

Oregano is like adding salt on pastas and Italian tomato-based dishes.

Thanksgiving spices don't have to be traditional like this za'atar rub.

9.Coriander:

Coriander is a lemony-tasting spice and one the subtle yellow brightens up any dish. The best kind to buy is coriander seeds that you can finger crush into your cooking pots and pans or directly into your food bowl.

…I wonder if Fido would like that too? 💭

That adds a spice flavor burst when you get one that leaves a nice, lingering after taste, after your spoonful bite is long gone.

Coriander is also an antioxidant that’s good for preventing free-radicals and oxidative stress (that helps to protect against certain cancers).

10.Sumac (bitter):

And finally, I saved the best for last. It’s one of the lesser known spices but is a super antioxidant good for cold and flu season and around the holidays.

Add sumac to your potatoes for a slightly bitter tangy taste, and casseroles. The small specks of dark purplish red color, stand out from the crowd of spices in your rack.

It’s a key ingredient in a za’atar spice blend, that commonly has sesame seeds, sumac, and thyme. You can easily bake za’atar into healthy za’atar crackers.

Cranberry Juice to Tea

Cranberry juice is one powerful antioxidant drink that’s good to keep in your food-as-medicine kitchen cabinet. It’s a festive, easy drink to serve up to your dry and under age guests that wins health points for all.

Cranberries have stood the test of time over centuries like many healthy, plant-based foods. That helped people survive.

The fruits were originally named crane-berry because it was a popular food for cranes, as in birds. Machines 🏗️ aren’t drinking or eating yet.

…Also, wouldn’t it be fun to name fruits because many are still being discovered in our New World? 💭 I remember when elderberries came on the scene as good for cold immunity… I feel like an elder berry. 😊

These days, we share these same foraged foods with other small wildlife creatures like squirrels, deers, and other birds. 🐿️🦌

And humans turn this cranberry fruit (that’s not a berry) into a drink for good reason.

For one, cranberry juice is known to be good for preventing urinary tract infections, even though it hasn’t been made fact.

But preventing infections mean less antibiotics in your body that always helps gut health. The rise of antibiotic resistance and contaminated meat is costing over $2 billion annual in the U.S., so it’s worth believing cranberry as preventative medicine.

Pure 100% juice version is the one to source and buy. 💯 without added sugars like the common cranberry cocktail version you find in convenience stores. Buy it when you’re inconveniently in the big grocery stores with a cart and the juice will last long after opened.

It’s one healthy holiday tradition that you can stand by…

And on-travel, ordering a cran-apple juice on the airplane can be a good next-to-water hydrating drink with vitamins and minerals.

At home, besides as a glass of cranberry juice, you can make a cranberry tea… either iced for warmer months or warmed tea for colder or transitional months.

And the way to keep this a low-sugar, healthy beverage is to change the taste. 100% cranberry juice is tart, so adding other natural flavors will enhance the tartness and make it exciting. ♥️

For warm tea, use dried fruits, flowers, and spices to naturally spice-up the tea, like these pairings:

-Hibiscus & rose hips

-Elderflower

-Raspberry

-Apple

-Orange Peels

-Ginger

-Cinnamon

Use a strainer for the dried bits, and if they’re finely ground, you can use a paper coffee filter that you can cut down to the right size for your strainer.

I actually like when a few tea leaves seep through as it keeps the tea homemade and rustic feeling. Turn on the moody jams and you have an enjoyable break. 🎶

But that’s a nice choice you get to make in the moment…

And at the end, zhughing with some ruby red fruits like cranberries and pomegranates sinking to the bottom make it a bottomless tea party!

In my drinks, you can even find some shredded coconut streamers or rosemary spikes, and a ‘pick of cranberries for tasty interest.

Those details come naturally from my event and party planner days where it’s all about the special zhugh. This one is good for the heart.🫀

For an iced tea version, use fresh fruits, flowers, lemon… and omit the spices.

You can also use your cranberry juice tea to make other wild fresh drinks or mocktails…

You can add cranberry seltzer water to make a big fizzy punch that’s a pink champagne color and bring up happy spirits! 🎉

Coconut Carrot Apple Smoothie

Coconut carrot apple smoothie is refreshing and healthy… and one you ought to consider on your list of smoothies.

Coconut carrot apple smoothie zhughed with shredded coconut.

It’s a bright anti-inflammatory smoothie that you can drink year-round and start your balanced breakfast with that includes fiber, vitamins, minerals, and healthy fat to prep you for your protein bites.

AND it’s a great start for supporting weight loss goals

For starters:

Ginger – is a detox ingredient. This is a good ingredient to add to your daily beverage or water. It’s a punchy flavor that helps digestion and inflammation.

Ginger pairs great with a carrot (…carrot ginger soup 💭).

Carrot is a balanced veggie that’s known for beta-carotene and it’s no surprise that it’s anti-inflammatory. Carrots also have lutein that’s good for eye health. 🥕

Pairing apple with carrot is another balanced pairing. “A” is for apple, and “b and c” is for beta-carotene and carrots.

Red Apple – loaded with anti-inflammatory quercetin. The apple skin has the most antioxidants, so when using all in your smoothie… choose organic apples.

A medium sweetness apple like Gala, Fuji, or Red Delicious apple works well.

And…

Coconut flour is a gluten-free flour that is good for thickening. Since there’s no peanut butter or banana in this smoothie (that’s another smoothie 😋), you need a denser solid ingredient that complements the smoothie taste.

The flour version is a more subtle coconut taste that’s consistent and gives the smoothie a creaminess. If you’ve ever had coconut milks, you may have experienced the inconsistency, where the liquid separates from the solids.

The separation can cause a mix of tastes (not good for picky critics).

Btw, if you have someone who doesn’t like an ingredient, you can always substitute or omit.

…That’s close to my heart because I used to detest ginger and now I love it. And you have stories with your food journey where you evolve in tastes when you give foods another chance… and even some earlier food allergies, you can grow out of.

Spices can be part of that journey.

Cinnamon is one good sweet anti-inflammatory ingredient that you want to keep trying.

…Like in this coconut carrot apple smoothie as one way.

Ceylon cinnamon is the cinnamon that’s good for beverages as it’s the healthiest. It has a more sophisticated taste (my way of saying an acquired adult taste) than Cassia or traditional cinnamon we usually see and fragrantly use in baking treats like apple pie or galette desserts.

And to smooth-ie balance this smoothie, add your milk of choice.

Almond milk is a balanced plant-based milk. It has Vitamin D, E, A.

Adding some healthy fat like almonds (that almond milk comes from) help absorption.

Plus almond milk is usually easy to find in the stores, next to the cow’s milk you grew up drinking (that helped you grow up maybe a few extra inches). 🥛

Ready to make this tall smoothie?

Coconut carrot apple smoothie with a cinnamon straw.

Coconut Carrot Apple Smoothie

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1 tbsp coconut flour, gluten flour
½ cup almond milk
½ red apple, chopped
10 baby carrots, cooked and softened
ginger juice or powder to taste
Ceylon cinnamon to taste
shredded coconut to zhugh
seeds, crushed

Instructions

Blend milk, apple, carrots, flour, cinnamon, and ginger. Tip: keep the peels for texture if you prefer with organic apples. Gala or Fuji apples work well.

Anti-Inflammatory Fall Soups (Rainbow) 🌈

Anti-Inflammatory fall soups are special because they have healthy rainbow plate and bowl goodness that’s good for the palate too. Like this fall color beet soup that can look like weeds growing in a swamp. 🌱

cold beet anti inflammatory fall soups — Beet soup recipe below 🌈

…And the swampier the better for your body! 🌈

Hot or cold is an Ayurvedic choice that in balance can be a balance in weather season and your body balance needs! Our bodies wisely know what bowl would be better for each of us. 🥣

If we listened to our body… like the way we listened to our mothers, then we help ourselves out.

But the body is usually more subtle in its approval process… showing up in deeper satisfied feelings and as your healthy body without daily symptoms.

And in Ayurvedic terms, eating hot or cold makes a difference in healthy balancing your body.

Homeostasis (balance) means healthy. And the other good “H” word: happy.

A happy body is a happy mind.

And a happy body-mind is a happy self.

Getting to this place is often from choices we make in lifestyle, environment, and work choices.

…I know this well working in buttery situations, with kitchens that used a lot of butter earlier on in my hospitality food career.

…That was the foundation I started with that helped teach me the better ways… similar to butter smeared on a cake pan to prevent sticking.

Those were my hotel days that gradually turned into Mediterranean food restaurant days where the ingredients grew more healthy over the years…

And cold soups first found a place in my culinary world when I tasted cold Gazpacho soup.

I was planning parties for a Washington DC metro Spanish restaurant chain then.

And after that a similar bowl scene in an Italian Capitol Hill restaurant that taught cooking classes.

I was warmed up to the cold soup idea by the time I got to a Lebanese restaurant chain where recommending food menus, promoting food, and tasting was my job.

Someone has to do the hard, dirty work 😋

I learned a thing or two in those years working with the talented culinary staff and foodie guests.

I looked forward to the seasonal menus like most of us do celebrating in-season and farmers market ingredients like watermelon 🍉 in summer… and pomegranates and pumpkin in fall. 🎃

And in my lessons, I learned no matter what temps are going on outside, you can make anti-inflammatory fall soups year-round.

Like a cold beet soup (recipe below 💗). You can’t beat that…

And especially with anti-inflammatory whole food pairings that taste like heaven on earth in the mouth.

…That’s what I lived and breathed planning event menus and food tastings for thousands of catered hotel and restaurant events before I embraced how healthy the ingredients are.

And a nice bowl of soup was part of that healthy immersive experience.

These are 7 soup-er bowls birthed from that healthy spirit.

Pumpkin and Cranberry Soup

I brewed and added seasonal Bigelow Cranberry Harvest tea that will add a crisp acidic, sweet bitter taste with apple bits, hibiscus rose hips, and licorice root. That gives a grown-up sophisticated taste vibe in the mouth.

And you can add whole cranberry juice, plus tomatoes and carrots for balancing anti-inflammatory food pairings.

I used purple carrots here that have anti-inflammatory anthocyanin polyphenols (that are also in dark color berries). Each color has special healthy effects. 🌈

Cook carrot variety of choice (or regular carrots 🥕) until soft. Add a dash of fresh ginger to pair the taste. If you’re not sure if you like ginger, you can use ginger spice to keep it subtle or leave out.

Creamy Tomato Soup

And for a more traditional taste like tomato and grilled cheese with a restaurant-like twist, you can heat up a creamy tomato bowl 🍅 adding in a creamy cheese like Camembert or Brie to get a delicious pairing. You can skip the rind or leave in.

Movin’ on to other anti-inflammatory fall soups that bring a comfort smile… 😋

Chunky Sweet Potato

Cook your sweet potatoes in water, mash, and add to a bowl.

For hot and cold balanced spices, my favorites are trio medleys like: black pepper, turmeric, and coriander.

Or for an Ayurvedic heat-cooling duo, you can use black pepper and cumin.

This is good anytime if you’re leaning into your Vata or Kapha where you’re feeling a cold body internally regardless of the weather outside.

And since both doshas (Vata/Kapha) natually run cold, I’d recommend a warm soup like this one…

Warm Mushroom Soup

Mushroom soup is always my favorite. You can turn into a porridge with warmed oats.

And you can make your own creamy mushroom soup with two simple ingredients: mushrooms and creamy cheese.

You can even use milk or yogurt if you don’t have cheese on hand.

The creamy soups were my favorite growing up… and Cream of Mushroom was high on the list.

The way I like to do it is with the double boiler method where you heat the mushrooms slowly in the inside bowl, so they don’t get as mushy like on a sautee pan.

And you can use the natural mushroom juices to flavor the soup. You can also add a little sherry like they do in restaurants if you like. But this is where I leave the heavy cream in the restaurants. 😀

And near the end of heating up cooking, add the cheese like a creamy Camembert or Brie and let it melt to your liking. Camembert has B12, calcium, and proteins.

If you mix up your cheeses, then you get different healthy benefits. 🧀 And the gourmet creamy cheeses are healthier than regular store cream cheese or Boursin (Gournay cheese) that’s the restaurant equivalent.

If you don’t like any floating cheese that doesn’t melt in your soup, you can simply sift out those pieces. I personally like kitchen sink (everything) in my soup, leaving the cheese rind (mold) and all the natural, herby, and bitter tastes.

But that’s a preference you have a choice in if you make your own soups.

To finish off, I add a dash of white pepper from a mill to lean into the umami mushroom-y taste. 🍄‍🟫

Add a few drops of balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce and then I’m in Cream of Mushroom heaven.

Staying on the warming trend, this is another easy one that’s so good for you…

Warm Potato Soup

Potato soup was the first soup I made from scratch and a good beginner soup you may have already discovered.

Earlier on I did like most… I bought my soups.

Then in 2020, like many I started making my own soups regularly. That’s when I made my first easy potato soup.

Btw, making soups is easier than making a salad ’cause there’s one star ingredient… potatoes. 🥔

That’s one sac of usually 5-lb bag of potatoes. You can add that as points to your fitness shopping routine that counts! 🎉

And then you don’t have to make extra effort to buy cans that take up space in your pantry and are usually loaded with sodium in case you’re on a DASH or MIND Diet.

Those diets btw have anti-inflammatory sentiments in mind.

Lentil Soup

And one more soup you should add to your list of anti-inflammatory fall soups is lentil soup. It’s pennies to make.

Plus, you can cook lentils faster than potatoes… like 35 minutes on a medium heat stove in case you want to have a good day start like the running hare 🐇 and not the slow turtle. 🐢

You can add coconut milk as a tasty pairing twist. And if you don’t have milk on hand, you can also use coconut flour for a curry lentil soup. Balancing spices to add: curry, turmeric, black pepper, ginger.

And finally without further ado… beet soup 🥣

You can make some easy rustic comfort wheat crackers to go with your fall soups.

Cold Beet Cauliflower Soup (Rainbow)

Course Appetizer, Soup

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

beets
cauliflowers, cooked
tricolor carrots (purple, yellow, and orange carrots)
cherry tomatoes
microgreen (arugula or alfalfa sprouts)
crumbled goat cheese
cumin
salt and pepper
lemon pepper (optional)

Instructions

Cook carrots, beets, and cauliflower until soft. Let cool and add to a blender if serving cold soup.
Add blended ingredients to a bowl and garnish with the cheese, other veggies, tomatoes, and spices.